North Japan's Niigata steps up efforts to eradicate raccoons: Report

Nearly 50 years after an animated television show started the trend of keeping raccoons as pets, one prefecture in Japan has now declared war on them, a report by This Week in Asia said.

In Niigata Prefecture in north Japan, prefectural authorities are intensifying their efforts to eradicate raccoons since they destroy crops, damage buildings, and infrastructure, and endanger native species.

Since 2005, Japan has labeled raccoons as an invasive alien species as they have damaged about 80 per cent of the country's temples.

Niigata has recently seen a sharp rise in raccoon captures. The first raccoon was caught in 2010, followed by a second in 2014. However, that number had increased to ten by 2020, the last year for which the prefecture provided statistics.

Local officials in Niigata are conducting a survey across the prefecture to determine how many raccoons are currently living there and what habitats they prefer. The prefecture will then create a control plan with recommendations in an effort to stop raccoons from causing crop damage.

The Niigata Prefecture has also released a list of recommendations for anyone who encounters raccoons, advising people to avoid approaching them, to dispose of edible waste carefully, and to spray routes frequented by the animals with vinegar or another repellent.

Anyone who finds a raccoon living under their roof should use smoke to smoke them out or contact licenced pest exterminators, they said.

Kevin Short, a naturalist and a cultural anthropologist who teaches at Tokyo University of Information Studies, said that something needs to be done to lessen the trail of destruction that raccoons are leaving behind. However, he thinks that eradication will be difficult.

"These animals do not belong here, and they are causing a lot of problems, but it's really not their fault," he said.